Background about Mike Peters

Mike Peters is
recognized as one of our nation's most prominent cartoon artists
for his outstanding work as botha political
and comic strip cartoonist. His favorite expression
WHAT A HOOT certainly sums up his outlook on his life and
work which are inexorably entwined. As so eloquently phrased by
a colleague -- "Mike is the Peter Pan of the cartooning world;
he’s boyishly charming, good with a rapier and doesn’t
spend a lot of time on the ground. And he doesn’t seem to
want to grow up.

Mike has been interested in cartooning, and particularly political
cartooning, since childhood. In 1965 he was awarded the
degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts from
Washington University andimmediately
began his career on the art
staff of the Chicago Daily News. The following year he began two
years of service with the U.S. Army as an artist for the Seventh

Psychological Operations Group in Okinawa. After Vietnam, his
mentor, the renowned W.W. IIartist
Bill
Mauldin helped him find a cartooning position on the Dayton
Daily News in 1969. That was the beginning. In 1972, his
editorial cartoons became syndicated nationally. In 1981 Mike
was awarded a Pulitzer
Prize for Journalism and in 1984 the award-winning Mother
Goose & Grimm comic strip was born -- all with the
help of Marian, his wife, best friend and business partner
of 35 years.

His
work is syndicated in newspapers worldwide, frequently appears
in national publications and he has become familiar to thousands
through his many appearances on shows such as Good
Morning America,
The Joan Rivers Show, The
Today Show, Equal
Time, MSNBC,
CNNFN
and C-SPAN.
Peters is also a popular lecturer and makes appearances at editor
and publisher conventions, on the college lecture circuit and
before political groups. The University
of Dayton awarded Mike with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters
Degree in 1998.

Mike’s
political cartoons, syndicated by King
Features Syndicate, appear in over 400 newspapers worldwide.
His political work is featured frequently in such publications
as Newsweek,
Time,
U.S.
News and World Report, and The
New Republic (several of which have also featured him in articles
about political cartoonists). Peters is particularly proud of
his animated editorial cartoons, “Peters Postscripts”
which aired on NBC's
Nightly News in 1981. It was the first time animated editorial
cartoons appeared regularly on a prime-time network news program.
Peters also has done a 14-part interview series, The
World of Cartooning with Mike Peters, for PBS.

Mother
Goose & Grimm
,also distributed by King
Features Syndicate, appears in over 800
newspapers worldwide and consistently places in the top
10 most popular ratings. Licensees distribute Grimmy products
all over the world, and the Grimmy TV
show continues to air in several countries. Grimmy
is also on the internet at www.grimmy.com
receiving over 5,000 visits a day. Mother Goose & Grimm is
included in the new Toon
Lagoon theme park at Universal Studios that opened in
July 1999.

When
time allows, Mike’s passion for storyboarding animation blossoms
creations such as Night of the Living
Fred for Steven Spielberg’s Dreamwork’s
team (1998).

Mike
is on the Board of Trustees for the International Museum of Cartoon
Art in Boca Raton, FL, the Advisory Board of the Sarasota Comedy
Festival, the Board of Advocates of the Planned Parenthood Federation
of America and is a member of the National Cartoonists Society.
He is a member of the Defense Orientation Conference Association,
a civilian group formed by the Defense Department which is dedicated
to the understanding and studying of national security on an unclassified
basis at all levels. He is also an Honorary Member of the American
Association of Therapeutic Humor based in St. Louis, MO.

His
awards include the Sigma Delta
Chi Distinguished Award for political cartooning (1975), ACLU-Ohio
Award (1980), Pulitzer Prize (1981), Distinguished Alumni Award,
Washington University (1981), Headliner Award (1983, 1988, 1993),
WICI Headliner (1983, 1990), NCS Award for Editorial Cartooning
(1983, 1984), NCS nomination for Cartoonist of the Year (1985),
the Ohio Governor's Award (1985), National Planned Parenthood
"Maggie" (1985, 2000), Esquire's Top 40 Achievers (1988),
WICI Man of the Year (1988), Humane Society Man of the Year (1990),
Cox Newspapers Citation (1988, 1990), the Reuben Award for Cartoonist
of the Year (1992), Best of Cox - Editorial Cartooning (2001).
In 1994 the Dayton Daily News celebrated Mike's 25 years as their
editorial cartoonist with a "Roast." Many respected
cartoonists gathered in Dayton for this spectacular event that
entertained over 500 people including Senator Howard Metzenbaum
and Senator John Glenn. The Governor of Ohio, George Voinovich,
designated September 24, 1994 as "Mike Peters Day."
The University of Dayton awarded Mike with an honorary Doctor
of Humane Letters Degree in 1998.

Other
awards include Ohio Associated Press (1973, 1975, 1976,
1978, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1988), three Overseas Press Citations,
Overseas Press Award (1990), two Robert F. Kennedy Awards, two
Cleveland Press Awards and two Cincinnati Press Awards. His cartoons
are shown in numerous galleries across the country including the
Chuck Jones Showrooms, the permanent collection of the Milton
Caniff Library at Ohio State University and the Library of Congress
(Washington D.C.).